UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs Syracuse 87-77 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Blows a 32-Point Lead and Holds on to Win the Game by 10
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team faced off against Syracuse on Monday night. It was an ugly start to the game for both teams. Both teams combined for 3-13 from the field, and the score was only 4-2 Carolina after the under-16 timeout. Over the next few minutes, UNC started to play at a much faster pace and move the ball to the open man for quality shots. Caleb Wilson took over and scored 13 points to help the Heels push their lead to 17. Jonathan Powell added 8 points off the bench, and UNC was rolling going into halftime with a 46-32 lead. The Tar Heels shot 53% from the floor in the first half, had 9 assists on 16 made baskets, and 5 different Tar Heels hit a three.
In the second half, North Carolina came out and went on a 26-8 run, extending their lead to 32. The Tar Heels were relentless, attacking the basket offensively, scoring in the paint, and using their dribble penetration to generate open shots on the perimeter. Defensively, the Heels were making Syracuse take tough contested shots, and the Orange struggled to get anything going offensively. Once UNC went up 32, they had all the momentum, and the Heels were expecting to cruise to victory. However, Syracuse had other plans. Syracuse played hard to the final buzzer, and Carolina completely took their foot off the gas. The Heels started to play lazy defense, allowing Syracuse guards to blow right past them, and the UNC bigs stopped rotating to contest the shot at the rim and around the basket. North Carolina not only stopped playing defense and allowed Syracuse to get whatever shot they wanted offensively, but they stopped being aggressive offensively. The Tar Heels were no longer attacking the basket and were taking ill-advised, bad shots, and making careless turnovers and passes, leading to an offensive drought. Carolina was up 32 with 10 minutes left in the game, and from that point was outscored 37-11, seeing their lead dwindle all the way to 6. North Carolina would seal off the victory with free throws, but it was an unimpressive finish to a game that should’ve never been close. Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesaar, Jonathan Powell, and Luka Bogavac all finish the game in double figures as North Carolina extends their current streak to 4 and defeats the Orange 87-77.
UNC Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| Syracuse 13-10 | 32 | 45 | 77 |
| 14 North Carolina 18-4 | 46 | 41 | 87 |
| Starters | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| C. Wilson | 22 | 9 | 1 | 6/14 | 0/1 | 10/13 | 2 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| H. Veesaar | 17 | 11 | 4 | 7/11 | 1/2 | 2/4 | 2 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| S. Trimble | 9 | 5 | 1 | 2/7 | 1/2 | 4/6 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| D. Dixon | 8 | 2 | 3 | 2/4 | 1/3 | 3/3 | 3 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| J. Young | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bench | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Powell | 12 | 1 | 0 | 4/5 | 3/4 | 1/2 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L. Bogavac | 10 | 1 | 2 | 4/6 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 2 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| J. Stevenson | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2/6 | 1/3 | 2/4 | 2 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Evans | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Z. High | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| I. Denis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| I. Matlekovic | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Davis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Holbrook | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Smith | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 87 | 37 | 16 | 27/56 | 8/18 | 25/35 | 19 | – | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| Starters | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| D. Freeman | 23 | 8 | 0 | 8/14 | 2/4 | 5/6 | 2 | 36 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| N. George | 15 | 1 | 4 | 6/12 | 2/5 | 1/2 | 4 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| J. Starling | 13 | 3 | 1 | 5/13 | 0/1 | 3/3 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| N. Kingz | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3/6 | 2/3 | 0/1 | 5 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| W. Kyle | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 0/2 | 5 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bench | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| K. Anthony | 10 | 2 | 0 | 3/10 | 0/3 | 4/4 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| I. Souare | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3/3 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| T. Betsey | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. White Jr. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| B. Zephir | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| N. Lobdell | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| L. Fennell | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| A. Womack | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| T. Diawara | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Russell III | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 77 | 28 | 7 | 29/65 | 6/18 | 13/19 | 24 | – | 6 | 8 | 9 |
UNC Bright Spots
Caleb Wilson had 22 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Henri Veesaar had 17 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.
Jonathan Powell had 12 points and 1 rebound.
Luka Bogavac had 10 points, 2 assists, and 1 rebound.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to learn how to put teams away. When they have a large lead, they must learn how to have a killer mentality. Just because you are up doesn’t mean the game is over. The Heels cannot take their foot off the gas and relax on both ends of the floor because it allows teams to hang around, and it will cost you in the future if you continue to do so in games.
The Heels shot 71% from the free-throw line today. But missing 10 free throws is still a lot and keeps you from extending leads, allowing games to be closer than they should be. Going forward, they need to be more focused to knock down their free throws at a much higher clip.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels improve to an 18-4 record and are 13-0 at home. The Heels played well for most of this win but were outplayed in the final minutes of the game after gaining a huge lead because of lazy defense, bad shots, careless turnovers, and just lackluster play on both ends of the floor. North Carolina won the game, but they have bigger aspirations in mind. They want to win a championship, and in order to become a championship team, you have to build the right habits throughout the season. You cannot ever take your foot off the gas against any team because teams are too good, and it will cost you.
Hubert Davis must do a better job of calling timeouts when teams go on runs to stop their opponents’ momentum. Coach Davis needs to call these timeouts to refocus his players and get them back on the right track. This is very important for the coaching staff to be able to make in-game adjustments because it will be needed when the postseason tournaments come around. The Tar Heels are a young team and will learn from this game, but they must play hard for 40 minutes. That is what championship teams do. Next up is Duke on Saturday, February 7, at 6:30 P.M. on ESPN.
In what should have been a 50pt win, we acted like we’re the #1 team in the country and rested on our laurels. This team doesn’t have the capacity to play like they’re champions. We almost punked out and gave this game away. Hopefully we play the full 40 minutes on Saturday, or else it’ll be an easy win for dook.
Like a runner heading towards the finish line but does not push through the tape is what was on display on Monday. Fortunately, the distance or time was not enormous. Can the Tarheels keep the undefeated home record in tact? There some match ups problems for both team.